


A Moment Too Late

by MusicalLuna



Category: Psych
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Established Relationship, F/M, Fake Character Death, Future Fic, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 21:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Jules goes on a trip.





	1. Prologue - Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> O'Spencerness, guyzos. :)
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** They're not mine. Probably better they aren't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p>Haha. This was going to be a Mushy Moments one-shot. And then Maja read it, and demanded more. So you can blame her for this. XD
> 
> The chapters will be short, just so you know.
> 
> Enjoy!

Shawn’s arms wrapped securely around Juliet’s head and shoulders, pulling her close against him as he pressed his lips into her hair. “I’ll miss you, Jules,” he mumbled and Juliet’s forehead creased, her eyes closing as she returned the fervent hug.

“I’ll miss you too. But I’ll be home soon, you’ll see. It’ll be no time at all,” she said, hand stroking gently over the hair on the nape of his neck.

“Any time away from you is too much time, Jules,” he said, and his tone was playful, but it didn’t take away from the feel of the words. Juliet’s throat tightened and she squeezed before pulling back to press her lips against his. Shawn’s hand moved to caress her face, his thumb brushing lightly over her cheek.

“I’ll be home soon,” she repeated when they parted.

Shawn nodded, and kissed her again, and then again, his hand warm against her face. “I know.” He kissed her one last time on the forehead and then murmured, “I love you, Jules.”

“I love you too,” she whispered. She squeezed his hand and then he released her, stuffing his hands into his pockets as soon as he had let go.

Juliet’s heart throbbed as she got her last look at her fiancé. He looked forlorn already and she hadn’t even gotten through security yet.

She would always be a little bit happy that he hated to see her go.


	2. Prologue - Saying Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got nothin.

Shawn headed home long after Juliet had disappeared from sight.

He’d gotten very accustomed to having her around and didn’t relish the thought of being without her for a whole week, but work was work and she had to do what she had to do. A week wasn’t so long.

He called Gus on the way home. Despite the fact that he and Juliet weren’t living together, he felt the overwhelming urge to have someone else in his apartment that night.

“Dude, I just dropped Jules’ off at the airport, you wanna come over tonight and watch some movies? I’ll rent.”

And as per their friendship, Gus seemed to sense that this was an honest-to-goodness, I-need-the-company-tonight-dude request and not an attempt to further sabotage his professional life. “You know it. You want me to bring a pack of beer?”

“Nah, I got some.”

“How about KFC?”

Shawn’s mouth watered at the very idea. “You read my mind.”

Gus grinned. “I have ESP.”

Shawn snorted. “Oh really.”

“Yeah. Extra Shawn Perception.”

He laughed outright at that and said, “I’ll see you tonight dude.”

“Don’t forget the movies,” Gus warned, and they both disconnected.

Keeping occupied at the video store prevented Shawn’s thoughts from lingering too long on Juliet’s absence, aside from the occasional glance at his watch to see how much longer her flight would be. In the end he managed to pick a couple of Arnold Schwarzenegger flicks and a couple of stupid comedies that he and Gus would laugh their butts off at later in the evening.

He kicked his shoes off as he walked in the door of his apartment, shrugging off his coat and tossing it over the back of the couch before dropping the bag of movies on the coffee table. Gus should be here any—

“I got extra-crispy everything, more mashed potatoes and gravy than your mom could eat, and two tubs of macaroni and cheese,” Gus said as he strode through the door.

Shawn groaned longingly, hurrying over to dig into the bag. “Oh my god, macaroni and cheese, where have you been all my life?”

Gus smirked and rolled his eyes but said nothing as Shawn pried the lid off of one of the Styrofoam containers, using his fingers to dig out a mouthful of macaroni and cheese. He moaned again and flopped onto the couch, holding the container close. “We don’t need anybody do we, Mac and Cheese? Nuh uh, we have each other…”

As he dug in with his fingers again Gus tossed a wad of napkins and silverware in plastic wrapping at him. “Yeah, we’ll see how Juliet reacts when I tell her you’re bailing on her for an extra-large portion of mac and cheese from KFC.”

“She’d understand,” Shawn said around a mouthful. “What do you want to watch first? Terminator?”

“Sounds good to me!” Gus called from the kitchen and returned as Shawn was prying the DVD case open with gooey fingers. “Ugh, gross, Shawn! Let me do that before you gook it all up!”

Shawn grinned to himself as he flopped back onto the couch, spooning another mouthful of macaroni and cheese into his mouth.

Gus set everything up, and then joined Shawn on the couch, contentedly cracking open a bottle of beer. “Bring on the bloodshed,” he said happily.

Two fists bumped in the middle of the couch.

Shawn reflexively glanced at the clock on the DVD player periodically as they watched the movie, despite the fact that a fairly accurate countdown was kept running in his head. When they reached the end of _The Terminator_ and popped in _Terminator II_ , ten minutes after Juliet was supposed to have landed and checked in, he began to get uneasy, checking the clock even more often. Halfway through _Terminator II_ he began checking his watch too, wondering if maybe the DVD player’s had gotten messed up. But no, the times matched.

It only continued to get worse from there and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Gus had noticed his agitation because he was sneaking glances at him just about as often as he looked at the clock. “Maybe her flight got delayed,” he suggested, understanding the cause without having to ask.

“Yeah,” Shawn said distractedly, but he couldn’t stop checking the clock. Wouldn’t she have let him know if the flight had been delayed? A flight couldn’t be delayed this long once it was in the air, could it?

Neither he or Gus paid much attention to _Eraser_ when it was in, both too distracted by Shawn’s twitchy worry.

“Shawn, it probab—”

“I know, Gus,” Shawn said sharply and then immediately grabbed the bottle of beer Gus had brought him a half an hour ago and downed half of it, irritated by his own concern. He was being crazy. Juliet was fine. Her plane was delayed just like a thousand other planes. Hell, maybe she even forgot to call, it wouldn’t be unheard of.

He was still sulkily berating himself for being a paranoid idiot when the doorbell rang. He sighed and paused the movie, jogging around the couch to get the door. When he pulled it open he was surprised to see Lassiter of all people standing there.

“Lassie! What’s up? What are you doing here?”

The detective’s face was pinched, tight lines drawn around his mouth. He looked stricken, as though he’d like to turn tail and run rather than spend another second on Shawn’s doorstep. “Spencer,” he greeted tersely. He glanced away then, swallowing several times and coughing when that didn’t seem to help. “Spencer,” he said again, and his voice was softer, tighter. “O’Hara. She…her… I mean, god, Spencer, I—”

Shawn’s hand clenched tightly around the door, and he shook his head. “Lassie, dude, that’s so not even funny.”

Lassiter rubbed both his hands over his face, cleared his throat again and then said in a flat voice, “Shawn, Juliet’s dead. Her plane crashed. There were no survivors.”

Shawn began to shake his head slowly back and forth. “No,” he whispered. “You’re lying.”

“I wish to God I were, Spencer,” Lassiter said, and the raw sound of his voice was enough.

Shawn’s legs buckled.


	3. Reality Is Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I got nothin'.

“You’re wrong!” Shawn snapped at Lassiter, pacing sharply back and forth across the living room floor a half an hour later. He had the phone receiver pressed to his ear, on hold with the airport.

Lassiter ran his fingers through his hair, his frustration obvious. “Spencer, I know how you feel but it was her connecting flight. The plane was obliterated.”

“Shut up,” Shawn said fiercely, the knuckles of the hand clutching the phone going white. “You don’t know that she made that flight. And they could have gotten the number wrong. What about that? They could have told you the wrong flight number. Or maybe you misunderstood. Jules is _not_ dead.”

Gus could see the strain the argument was putting on the detective. He was clearly trying to be understanding, but the wound was just as raw for him and having Shawn challenging what he had clearly already accepted was not making it any easier. “Shawn,” he said cautiously, “I really don’t think—”

“I don’t care what you think, Gus,” Shawn said and his eyes unfocused as the voice on the other end of the line spoke up again. “Yes. I want to know the flight number of the plane that crashed tonight. No. That’s _wrong_. Check again.”

Lassiter eased onto the couch, pressing his palms to his eyes. Gus edged toward Shawn, repeating cautiously, “Shawn.”

Shawn ignored him, barking, “You’re _wrong!_ Check again!”

“Shawn,” Gus said again, more forcefully. Nothing. “ _Shawn_.” He grabbed the phone, yanking it out of Shawn’s grasp and caught his friend by the arm when he made a furious noise in the back of his throat, reaching after it. “Shawn you know as well as I do that there was no mistake! It was a _plane crash_ , Shawn.”

“Juliet is not dead!” he shouted, his voice cracking.

“Spencer, please,” Lassiter said quietly, his voice directed at the floor. “Stop. Just…stop.”

Shawn stared at him for a moment, his arm still caught in Gus grip, hand extended for the phone. “Lassie…” he pled. “No. _No_ …she…”

“She’s gone,” Lassiter said wearily. “Her plane went down. There’s nothing… She’s gone.”

Shawn’s eyes closed, his face crumpling slowly. He didn’t say another word, simply slipped out of Gus grip and turned, sliding down the wall. He pulled his knees against his chest, put his forehead to his knees and wrapped his arms around his around them.

Gus sank onto the couch beside Lassiter and the three men sat in silence for a long, long time.


	4. Feeling You Close to Me

Shawn had let Gus drag him into his bedroom after the fog that was slowly invading his mind made him realize that his best friend had drugged the drink he’d given him. And while the drugs made his brain run slower, they didn’t stop it entirely and he couldn’t stop replaying the last time he’d seen Jules, and the look on Lassiter’s face when he’d told him of the plane crash and Juliet’s death.

The images slowly began to fade and mush together as the drugs continued to slow his mental processes, punctuated by slow and eerie imaginations of a plane, crashing to the ground and exploding into nothing. Lassiter’s eyes, tight with grief, saying quietly, “Juliet is dead.” The plane exploding into nothing. Juliet’s face, beautiful; full of fear. The explosion. Juliet.

He groaned faintly when the bedroom door creaked open slowly, rousing him from the edge of sleep, and mumbled, “Gus, ‘m almost asleep. Go ‘way. No more drugs.”

The mattress sagged slightly at his hip when Gus sat down on the bed. At least, he thought it was Gus until he spoke.

“Gus is still asleep on the couch,” Juliet’s voice whispered softly and his eyes snapped open, his heart freezing in his chest. Her hand brushed lightly in his hair and his throat tightened until he was struggling to breathe. “Can I stay here tonight?”

“Jules?” he rasped. Oh, god, he was dreaming. He had to be dreaming.

“Mmhm,” she murmured sleepily. “You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had.”

Shawn’s eyes burned, his throat too tight to form words. Juliet’s voice was right, but he could conjure that up effortlessly. Everything else though, the feeling of her hand on his shoulder, turning him onto his back as she lay down beside him, the vague warmth of her body snuggling close to his, was all hazy and indistinct and that could only mean one thing. He had to be dreaming.

He didn’t care.

His arms felt sluggish and the frustrating feeling of being stuck in molasses only solidified his theory. It didn’t matter though. Any time with her, real or contrived was time he intended to cherish. It _almost_ felt real and that was enough.

“Oh, I can guess,” he finally managed to croak, his arms wrapped tightly around her body. It hurt to have her so close and know that he would never feel this so clearly again. He held her tighter. “I love you, Juliet. I love you so much. God, I—I just…”

Juliet’s lips pressed softly against his neck and the hot burn from his eyes slid slowly on to his cheek when she mumbled drowsily, “’Love you too… Go back to sleep, you sound exhausted.”

He tried to focus the dream on her, to remember everything he could, every detail, every nuance, but at some point, it all finally faded away.


	5. Crushed

When he woke, Juliet was gone.

The last tendril of hope dropped out of the pit of his stomach and he pulled the covers back up over his head, crushing his face into the pillow.

He had no idea how long he lay there, his face pressed into the pillow and debating whether the crushing sensation in his lungs was because he was cutting off most of his oxygen supply or if it was because of the grief. It wasn’t until he heard the quiet, muffled voices from the living room that he rolled over. Had Gus called his _father?_ That was just what he needed.

Despite the fact that he kept telling himself he had no desire to see his dad, he managed to roll out of bed, scrubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. Without bothering to do so much as glance in the mirror, he staggered out into the hall.

Gus stood in the doorway of the dining room, peering into the kitchen and looking happier than Shawn thought he had any right to be. “…I guess those pills knocked him out better than I expected.”

His heart tightened in his chest when he heard the next voice. “I’m still surprised that scream of yours didn’t wake him up.” Juliet appeared at Gus’ side, carrying two plates and then caught sight of him, a smile leaping onto her face. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

“Oh, crap,” Gus exclaimed and managed to cross the distance between them just before Shawn’s legs buckled.

Everything began fading to white, and the last thing Shawn remembered seeing was Juliet’s face, hazy and glowing.

~ * * * ~

“Shawn. Shawn, honey. Come on, wake up.”

Not this again. Not more dreams. He didn’t want to dream about her anymore. “No…” he muttered.

“Shawn, come on. Open your eyes. You’re scaring me.”

Damn. He couldn’t even do that to imaginary Jules. His eyes opened and he felt his brow crease slightly. Her face was so _clear_. He reached up, fingers brushing across her face. Her skin was soft, just like he remembered it and his vision began to muddy.

“Damn it, Jules. Why did you have to go?” he whispered.

Juliet’s pretty blue eyes widened and she glanced up, looking at Gus. “Oh my gosh. I don’t think he—” She turned back to him and took his face in her hands, and he closed his eyes, reveling in the feeling. It was so _real_.

“Shawn,” Juliet said, her voice fervent. “Hey. Hey, I’m not gone. I wasn’t on the plane that crashed last night.”

Shawn’s eyes opened at that, his brow furrowing. “But Lassie said…”

“I know, I know. I missed my connection by just a minute or two. They made me check my bag at the gate here or I would have called you. It had my phone, and my pocketbook, everything in it. By the time I managed to get some money to call you on one of the airport phones, I guess the plane had already crashed. I called you, but the phone was busy.”

“How did you get here?” he asked, his hands wrapping tightly around her. It all made sense. If the last few details could be explained, maybe…maybe she really…

She laughed faintly and said, “I talked one of the taxi drivers into driving me back here. I didn’t have any money to get a hotel room and I didn’t want to be stuck in LAX forever. I took all the money in your wallet to pay the driver, sorry,” she said sheepishly.

“You missed your plane,” Shawn reiterated, still trying to grasp the fact that she wasn’t dead. Juliet nodded. “You lost your stuff.” Another nod. “And you took a taxi home.” Again a nod. “You’re really not dead?” he said, voice breaking slightly, and his hands began moving over her figure, feeling her face, her shoulders, her arms, her waist, all of it there, tangible, and warm.

“Oh, Shawn…” she whispered. Her arms snaked around the back of his head and she hugged him tightly.

Shawn pulled back just enough to press his lips to hers. He wasn’t going to stop kissing her until he was sure she wasn’t going to disappear again.

She was _alive_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahahahahahaha you guys thought I could actually kill Jules off??!?! XDDDDDDDDD


	6. Epilogue - Never Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDd And this futher extention of this story was thanks to s_c.

“What are you doing?” Shawn asked, stopping in the doorway of their bedroom when he saw Juliet loading clothing into a suitcase.

“I have to go to a conference this weekend,” Juliet said. “My flight’s in three hours. I have to get going.”

“What? Uh uh, Jules. No way, no how. No planes for you,” he said firmly, moving in to shut her suitcase.

Juliet sighed exasperatedly. “Shawn, I don’t have time for this. The conference is required. Chief Vick—”

“I’ll _drive_ you there,” he interrupted. “But you’re not taking a plane.”

Juliet’s face squinched up. “…to Hawaii?”

Shawn paused for a split second and then said, “Just keep your eyes closed. When you open them, we’ll be in Hawaii.”

Juliet did not look convinced.

Under his breath he muttered, “Hawaii may look bizarrely similar to Santa Barbara, but…”

A pair of socks hit him in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed this despite the trauma I put you through. XDDDD


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